[Sidenote: =Indian Pink=
_Silène laciniàta_
=Red
Summer
California=]
This has handsome conspicuous flowers, clear vermilion or
pinkish-scarlet in color, about an inch and a half across, with the
five petals prettily slashed at the ends into four long divisions. Each
petal has two little crests, which form a pretty "crown" in the throat
of the corolla. The roughish, slender stems, from one to over two feet
high, have several branches, the flowers growing two or three at the
ends. The leaves are long, narrow, and rather rough and the whole plant
is hairy and sticky. This is common around Pasadena and other places in
southern California and is beautiful on Point Loma, where the brilliant
flowers gleam among the underbrush like bits of flame. _S. laciniàta
var. Gréggii_ is common in Arizona and New Mexico.
[Sidenote: _Silène Lyalli_
=White
Summer
Northwest=]
Rather pretty, with a slender stem about a foot tall, smooth,
bluish-green leaves, and flowers about three-quarters of an inch
across; the calyx much inflated, yellowish-white and papery, with
brownish veins, and the petals cream-color, with two lobes and a
"crown."
There are a few kinds of Vaccaria, of Europe and Asia, smooth annuals,
with clasping leaves and red or pink flowers in terminal clusters;
calyx five-angled and inflated in fruit, five-toothed, without bracts;
petals longer than the calyx, without appendages; stamens ten; styles
two. Both the Latin and common names allude to the value of some kinds
for fodder.
[Sidenote: =Cow-herb=
_Vaccària vaccària_ (_Saponaria_)
=Pink
Summer
Across the continent=]
Quite pretty, with a leafy, branching stem, from one to three feet
tall, bluish-green leaves, and flowers less than an inch long, with a
ribbed, yellowish-green calyx, with reddish teeth, and the petals a
very pretty and unusual shade of deep, warm reddish-pink, veined with
deeper color. This is a European "weed," common in waste places and
cultivated fields.
[Illustration: Indian Pink--Silene laciniata.]
[Illustration: Cow-herb--Vaccaria vaccaria.